Weight loss question

HornsUT32
HornsUT32 Posts: 146 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok...I have a question I have wondered about for a long time. Why is it that when you diet and exercise really hard, you don't see the weight drop while you are doing it, but as soon as you take an "off-day", your weight seems to drop very quickly the day or two after.

For example..a few weeks ago I went about 5 days without noticing a change on the scale. My calories were low, but not too low, and I was exerising on my regular schedule. Friday night I went to dinner with my family and had a meal that most people on here would yell at me for lol. By Saturday night, my weight was 3 pounds less then the week before.

Maybe it is just me, but this seems to happen a lot. Does anyone know what causes this?

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    A couple things could be happening. When you exercise, your body holds water to repair muscle. So when you take a week off, it provides your body time release the water. Now if you are under eating, your body will release cortisol to protect the body, which also leads to water weight. So when you splurge your body can replenish itself.
  • iKristine
    iKristine Posts: 288 Member
    ^^ this to the above poster.

    Also, depending on the cal deficit, whether it causes your metabolism to lower if it's chronic. EX: 1200 def daily for a month, would likely (in most cases but not all) cause your metabo to lower. The result is a plateau if it's long term (2+ months for example)

    I've noticed in me, when I take a few days off, eat up to or over slight maintenance the scale budges again slowly over the next week or so. I've also noticed that the weight lost roughly equates to what I expected during the perceived plateau.

    The physiology is water retention. However, the specifics I'm not sure. I know it's not due to sodium though, as I've calculated for this in my own monitoring. There are people who swear this is the swoosh effect you get when you lose, separate from retention during temporary high sodium osmosis. While I cannot explain it 100%, I can say that in my experience upfeeds have budged it.

    I notice this is the theme in my weight loss, whenever I freeze for a month despite the diet(noun) and exercise, I just upfeed and ll is restored. I lost all my weight in this stepping fashion.

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